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Jersey Shore beach revenue down by $4M

ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- Revenue from area beaches this summer is down by more than $4 million compared with last year, and it remains unlikely the Jersey Shore will recoup that money by the end of Labor Day

ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- Revenue from area beaches this summer is down by more than $4 million compared with last year, and it remains unlikely the Jersey Shore will recoup that money by the end of Labor Day weekend, an Asbury Park Press analysis found.

The sagging numbers indicate the Jersey Shore -- where communities charge up to $10 a day for access to their beaches -- still feels the impact of Superstorm Sandy roughly 10 months after it hit, especially in terms of tourism dollars. Monmouth and Ocean counties' beach sales trail last year's by $4.1 million, or 16 percent, even after a $25 million federal tourism advertising campaign. Ocean County's 25 percent drop far surpasses Monmouth County's 10 percent decline.

"It's no shock; we only opened one-third of the beach," said Toms River Business Administrator Paul J. Shives. "There are homes being demolished in the immediate area on the beachfront. We had to allow room for demolition and construction."

The Asbury Park Press compiled revenue numbers from July 28 to Aug. 25 for last year and this year for more than two dozen publicly operated beaches between Long Beach Island and Sandy Hook. Some towns reported sales just for the badges visitors must buy to get on the beaches, while others provided numbers that included all beach-related income, including parking and lockers.

Shore officials repeatedly faulted the summer season's wet start and Sandy's lingering devastation in some areas for the downfall.

Of the towns that provided revenue figures, Brick and Toms River sustained the biggest losses.

When Sandy made landfall in late October, the superstorm destroyed 300 homes in the Ortley Beach section of Toms River and damaged some 2,800 others, said Shives, adding that township officials only budgeted for $150,000 in beach revenue this year.

"We had to go through a lot just to get the area open," Shives said. "To open the beach at all was somewhat of a stretch, but we did it."

Sandy also dealt Brick a heavy blow, damaging roughly 8,500 homes. When Brick Mayor Stephen Acropolis and his administration sat down to do this year's budget, they lowered their revenue projections to $250,000 in 2013 from $400,000 in 2012, according to budget records.

"We knew going into the summer that we were going to be down," Acropolis said. "People talk about the loss of tax base and the impact that it has, but Sandy also impacted other revenues like beach badges."

In Monmouth County, Deal's revenue dropped the most, by 51 percent, to $29,994 from $61,298 through July 31, followed by Sea Bright's 33 percent decline, to $189,420 from $283,257, through the same date.

"It's been a real bad summer," said Sea Bright Councilman C. Read Murphy, who serves as chairman of the committee that oversees the beaches. "I figured we'd be off about 20 to 25 percent."

Sea Bright has sold only about a quarter of the 1,900 seasonal badges it sells during a typical year. Daily badge sales remain mostly the same, but poor weather some weekends this summer has had an impact, Murphy said.

A lack of parking has also taken its toll on Sea Bright's beach revenue, because the town has only 300 available parking spaces compared with 450 to 500 before the storm.

In Seaside Heights — a borough recognized as a national symbol for Sandy's destruction after the Jet Star roller coaster washed away from the pier into the ocean — badge sales dipped 28 percent, from $1,600,464 to $1,156,714 through Aug. 19.

Seaside Heights Mayor Bill Akers thinks the borough stayed ahead of the curb by planning for a roughly 25 percent reduction in revenue when officials made this year's budget. That makes it easier to swallow this year's lower revenue, he said.

"I can see definite improvements May to June, June to July and July to August," Akers said. "If we can finish out strong like August has been, it's a very, very encouraging sign for next year."

Akers would not say he expects Seaside Heights to fully return to normal next year, especially with the work still needed on the borough's devastated homes and businesses. However, he did say the recovery efforts are bringing it closer to normal with every month and season.

Akers, like many other town officials up and down the Jersey Shore, prefers to look at this year's beach revenue as a glass half full.

"There were a lot of days early in the recovery that I didn't think Seaside Heights would be open," he said. "It was something you thought, but didn't say out loud. So to get to this point is monumental."

Allison Outwater, right, works as a badge checker on the boardwalk at Avon-by-the-Sea. Visitors must buy a badge to access the publicly operated beach.(Photo: Mike McLaughlin, (East Brunswick, N.J.) Home News Tribune)